Join Fishtrap for a Celebration of Partnership with Eastern Oregon University’S MFA & Creative Writing Program!
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From the Director Fishtrap Sta Dear Friends, Welcome to the 32nd Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers! I hope this week provides you with lots of inspiration, connection, community, and opportunity to explore and grow in your craft. You’re part of the rst Summer Fishtrap BoDean Warnock to take place at the beautiful and historic Operations Coordinator Wallowa Lake Lodge. Fishtrap has a long history with the lodge, and we’re happy to build on that relationship. We hope Mike Midlo you take advantage of this place. Walk the grounds, sit by the Program Manager Wallowa River, and stick your toes in the lake. You have have full access to the lodge, deck, and lawn, including 24-hour access to the lobby— and lots of free coee. Summer Fishtrap concludes our “Year of Ursula” celebration. She’s been with us through examining the meaning of refuge at Winter Fishtrap, and gave us the world of Earthsea to explore Shannon Maslach together during our Big Read community reading event. It was Registration Coordinator wonderful to to see readers discover Ursula for the rst time, and to hear stories from people who loved her writing, took her Janis Carper workshops, and even called her friend. Ursula’s inuence and impact on the writing world can’t be overstated. I’m happy to Marketing Coordinator see it continue this week. Whitney Chandler As I was sitting down to write this letter, I turned to her once Fishtrap Story Lab Instructor again to see if she had anything to say about writing workshops. I’ve remarked several times over the past year that there seems to be an Ursula quote for every situation. I was not disappointed: “Collaborative workshops and writers' peer groups hadn't been invented when I was young. They're a wonderful invention. Cameron Scott Shari Warnock They put the writer into a community of people all working at Youth Program Manager Youth Program Assistant the same art, the kind of group musicians and painters and dancers have always had.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft As a musician and a writer, this quote connects. Writing (and Fishtrap Fishtrap practicing) is a solitary act. It’s where you get the hard work Governing Board Advisors done. Where you work out the kinks, and frankly, build muscle in your craft. This is your reward for all that hard work. You get David Laskin - President Molly Gloss to spend time with your people. These are the folks who really Lance Homan - Treasurer Jim Hepworth understand what you’re doing, and maybe even why you do it. Elizabeth Oliver - Secretary Marc Jae Coming together to share your work, your experiences of Susan Badger-Jones Teresa Jordan writing, your struggles and victories, is how you build that Kate Forster Al Josephy community. Be inspired— and don’t underestimate your ability Pamela Royes Bill Kittredge to inspire others. Eric Greenwell Craig Lesley Kellee Sheehy Jonathan Nicholas Diane Josephy Peavey Welcome to Summer Fishtrap. Now let’s get some writing Janie Tippett done! Kate Power Jennifer Sahn Primus St. John Sincerely, Kim Staord Shannon McNerney Luis Alberto Urrea Executive Director Rich Wandschneider Fishtrap History Wallowa County bookstore owner Rich Wandschneider attended a writing conference in Portland, Oregon, but something didn’t feel quite right. Rich told conference organizer Kim Staord that it seemed the event wasn’t really a gathering of Oregon writers, but of “I-5 writers.” Kim agreed, but issued a challenge: “Why don’t you host the next one in Wallowa County?” In 1988 with help from the Wallowa Valley Arts Council, Wandschneider, Staord and Alvin Josephy, the famous journalist and historian of the American West, a gathering of writers was organized at Wallowa Lake in July with the theme West Coast Writers and East Coast Publishers. The Summer Fishtrap Gathering was born. Fishtrap’s founding director, Rich So began an annual tradition. Every July, readers, writers, journalists, historians, Wandschneider with Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. publishers, and lovers of the arts from all over the world gather at Wallowa Lake to share their love of good writing, challenging conversations, and the American West. The week-long conference has provided hundreds of writers the opportunity to work with the best western instructors and authors such as Ursula K. LeGuin, Luis Alberto Urrea, David James Duncan, Bill Kittredge, and Cheryl Strayed to name just a few. Over the next 20 years under founder Rich Wandschneider’s leadership, Fishtrap grew and added programs like Winter Fishtrap, the Imnaha Writers Retreat, writing classes, and lecture series to further the mission to promote “clear thinking and good writing in and about the West.” In recent years, Fishtrap has expanded to include youth programming as well as workshops and readings and lecture series designed for the local community. In 2006, Fishtrap was one of the original organizations selected by the NEA to pilot The Big Read, a program designed to promote community-wide reading programs. In 2014, Fishtrap launched Fishtrap Story Lab in partnership with Joseph Charter School. Designed to give students the opportunity to tell their own stories with 21st century technology, Story Lab is now available to students throughout Wallowa County. Rounding Out “The Year of Ursula” For more than 20 years, Ursula K. Le Guin was an inuential part of Fishtrap—from teaching Summer Fishtrap workshops to serving as an advisor. In gratitude for all she has done to inspire western writing, Fishtrap has devoted all of our 2019 programming to “The Year of Ursula.” From celebrating Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea as part of this year’s The Big Read, to honoring her at Winter Fishtrap’s The Meaning of Refuge with programming focused on one of the central themes of her writing, 2019 has been an amazing year of celebrating the works, ideals, and legacy of Ursula K. Le Guin. Now, with Summer Fishtrap’s “Steering the Craft,” inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic book on the nuts and bolts of writing, we invite you to jump feet, belly, and head rst into your own craft as you write, explore, and relax this week at Summer Fishtrap. “To make something well is to give yourself to it, to seek wholeness, to follow spirit. To learn to make something well can take your whole life. It’s worth it.” -- Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story Event Descriptions Afternoon Craft Talks Scott Russell Sanders: Stories as Containers (Tuesday, July 9, 1:30pm) Ursula Le Guin argued in one of her wry essays that our earliest ancestors fashioned stories as they fashioned baskets, bowls, and net bags as vessels for holding valuable things. This talk explores the sorts of things that stories hold, and the qualities that make stories durable, whether in ction, poems, essays, scriptures, or everyday conversation. Kim Staord: A Conversation on Craft (Wednesday, July 10, 1:30pm) Ursula Le Guin’s landmark book, Steering the Craft, gathers standard and deliciously idiosyncratic tools and tricks of the writer-magician to conjure visions from the page. Let’s gather for a conversation about our own discoveries as writers in the realm of personal craft. What steers your craft? What particular skills have you noticed in books by others that you plan to emulate? And what deft “English” have you given the language in your own writing that you are willing to share with fellow devotees of the craft—in exchange for secrets of their own? Laura Pritchett: The Whole Shebang: Thinking Through Your Book and Preparing it for Submission (Thursday., July 11, 1:30pm) Whether you’re just starting your book or working on revisions, this session will focus on important considerations for a book length work – making sure you’ve thought through (and honed in on) the theme, point of view, character arc, and that biggie – plot. This class pertains to book-length ction, nonction, and memoir. Witers of all levels are welcome. We’ll also discuss basic submission protocol and publishing paths including agents, indie presses, and self-publishing. Weekend Gathering Activities Youth Showcase (Friday, July 12, 1:30pm) Yearlong Writers Workshop Reading (Friday, July 12, 3:00pm) Our 2018-19 Yearlong Workshop participants wrap up their year of writing with a nal reading event hosted by instructor Gary Ferguson. Molly Gloss: Writing Prompts from Ursula (Saturday, July 13, 9:00am) Join Molly Gloss for a special activity utilizing writing prompts she learned from friend and mentor, Ursula Le Guin. Molly will oer one of Ursula’s favorite prompts, give participants an opportunity to explore it in their writing, and then talk about what kinds of scenes (or poems) the exercise generated for them. Perrin Kerns, Kim Staord, Cam Scott : The Short Digital Story in Plein Air (Saturday, July 13, 1:00pm) Want to make a short lm of a very brief piece of writing using images from around Wallowa Lake? In this short workshop, you bring a iPhone or iPad with VoiceMemo and iMovie downloaded (or you can borrow an iPad from us) and we will create short digital stories. Bring one or two lines of writing from the week or some writing you brought with you to the gathering. We will wander the landscape, take some pictures, and each of us will create a quick digital story using your text as the foundation. Come with a spirit of exploration and play. Dawn Norman: Plein Air Painting (Saturday, July 13, 1:00pm) Learn the basics of watercolor and tips for painting on site with this perfectly portable medium.